Mafic

ing,” says Thompson. The company, he adds, must also overcome some negative perceptions about basalt fiber materials. “In the past, they hadn’t always been made to rigorous quality standards that were required, and the products, themselves, weren’t available through a North American pro- duction facility. By bringing on production here in North Carolina, we can make those domestic ma- terials available to customers here in the states via a tighter supply chain, greater reliability, and fantastic American production, which, we know, many customers value.” Mafic also offers its customers unparalleled service. “One of the things that we focus on is customer requirements,” Thompson asserts. “Many customers have different individual and specific requirements that we need to address. The way that is most evident is through the development of specific sizings – the chemical coating that goes on the outside of basalt fiber that allows it to bond into different resin systems - and our ability to tailor our sizing systems to different customer needs in different thermoset and ther- moplastic materials, which then allows each cus- tomer to have a tailored ‘recipe’ for what they’re looking for and to help make sure that our fiber is maximizing its properties within their process.” “Previously in the basalt fiber marketplace, it was very much a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach,” he continues. “And, although, there are offer- ings which are adequately addressed by a sin- gle-sourced type of material, we definitely know MAFIC that having a diverse array of products and sizing materials is high on many customers’ list for the bonding and the performance that they need to see. That attention to detail comes through in the other things that we pay attention to, like mak- ing sure that our facilities maintain high quality standards, and other areas where customers know they can rely upon us.” Mafic’s owners, who have already invested “a significant amount of money here in North Carolina,” according to Thompson, have plans to continue to grow the company’s U.S. operations. “We’re looking to expand on the firm footing that we have today, and what we will have achieved in a year’s time with a year’s worth of production out of our U.S. facility,” says Thompson. “The way we look to expand is with additional facilities beyond the current one to meet the additional customer needs in the composites marketplace in North Carolina and beyond. “We have a lot of customers that work with our products, today, here in the U.S. and other North American locations, that currently use our prod- ucts from our Irish production facility, and we’re looking to continue to expand those customers’ utilizations, and in addition, support a growing customer base in Europe, where we currently supply from our Irish production facility and need additional supply capacity in order to service their needs.” Thompson views the composites industry - and its marketplace - as an unusually collaborative